Timeline

1st Prime Minister and 1st Governor-General
Lord Hopetoun became the first Governor-General and Edmund Barton the first Prime Minister. Both were sworn in at the ceremony inaugurating the Commonwealth of Australia.

Edmund Barton

29 Mar 1901

1st federal elections
Voters elected 75 members to the House of Representatives. Voters in the six states elected 36 representatives to the first Senate. This was the only federal election to take place on two days, 29 and 30 March.

Edmund Barton

09 May 1901

Parliament House for a day
The grand opening of parliament in Melbourne's Exhibition Building in the morning, was followed by the first sitting of the House of Representatives and the Senate in their borrowed home, Victoria's Parliament House.

Edmund Barton

10 May 1901

Parliament sits in Melbourne Parliament House
The first meeting of the Australian parliament took place in the Melbourne Exhibition Building on 9 May 1901. By the next day, parliament had moved to its new home for the next 26 years, the Melbourne Parliament House.

Edmund Barton

03 Sep 1901

An Australian flag chosen
A huge flag showing the winning design of Union Jack and Southern Cross on a blue background was unfurled over the Exhibition Building, Melbourne. The same design on a red background was used for merchant ships. It was many years before the blue flag officially replaced the British Union Jack for all other uses.

Edmund Barton

23 Dec 1901

Dictating a 'White Australia'
The enactment of the Immigration Restriction Act meant a dictation test became an effective way of excluding people from Australia. It enabled the government to create a predominantly European population. The 'White Australia' policy was finally dismantled in 1966 by the Holt government.

Edmund Barton

31 May 1902

Boer War ends
From 1899 when the war in South Africa broke out, troops from the Australian colonies had been sent to fight for Britain against the Afrikaners (former Dutch colonists). Despite the passionate arguments of Leader of the Opposition GH Reid, parliament agreed to send Commonwealth troops. They arrived shortly before the surrender of the Boer army.

Edmund Barton

09 Aug 1902

Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra
When Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901, her son Edward acceded to the throne. Prime Minister Edmund Barton led the Australian representation at the coronation in Westminster Abbey the following year.

Edmund Barton

03 Nov 1902

The empire cable
Postmaster-General James Drake opened the submarine telegraph cable from Vancouver, Canada to Southport, Queensland. This completed an all-British link thirty years after a London to Darwin cable was connected to South Australia’s overland telegraph line. The telegraph cable circling the globe enabled information to be sent by Morse code in ‘dot-dash’ electrical signals.

Edmund Barton

09 Jan 1903

2nd Governor-General
Lord Tennyson, a former South Australian Governor, was confirmed as Australia’s second Governor-General. He had been acting since 17 July 1902 when Lord Hopetoun left Australia. Lord Tennyson remained in office until 21 January 1904.

Alfred Deakin

24 Sep 1903

2nd Prime Minister
When Edmund Barton resigned to become a judge of the High Court, his friend and deputy Prime Minister Alfred Deakin succeeded him.

Alfred Deakin

06 Oct 1903

High Court established
Sir Samuel Griffith, Sir Edmund Barton and Richard O’Connor met for the first sitting of the High Court of Australia. In 1906 HB Higgins and Sir Isaac Isaacs joined them when the Deakin government increased the bench to five. In 1913 the Fisher government gave the Court its present size of seven judges.

Alfred Deakin

16 Dec 1903

2nd federal election
House of Representatives and 19 Senate seats

Alfred Deakin

16 Dec 1903

Women stand and vote
The 1903 federal election was the first where women had the same rights as men to stand for parliament and to vote. Vida Goldstein, Nellie Martel and Mary Ann Bentley stood for the Senate. Selina Siggins stood for the seat of Dalley in the House of Representatives.

Alfred Deakin

21 Jan 1904

3rd Governor-General
Lord Northcote served as Governor-General until 9 September 1908.

Alfred Deakin

02 Mar 1904

Opening of 2nd parliament
The second parliament opened and closed with the same Prime Minister, but there were four changes of government and three different Prime Ministers between the 1903 and 1906 federal elections. This was the most unstable of Australia's 40 parliaments.

Chris Watson

27 Apr 1904

3rd Prime Minister
Australia’s first federal Labor government led by JC Watson, achieved office when Labor members withdrew support for the Deakin government on an amendment to the Conciliation and Arbitration Bill.

George Reid

18 Aug 1904

4th Prime Minister
Leader of the Opposition from 1901, GH Reid became Australia’s fourth Prime Minister in three years.

George Reid

15 Dec 1904

Arbitrating arbitration
The Conciliation and Arbitration Bill was finally enacted, establishing a federal Conciliation and Arbitration Court. The Bill put two Prime Ministers out of office.

George Reid

24 May 1905

Empire Day
Britain decided to continue the public celebration of Queen Victoria’s birthday after the end of her 64-year reign in 1901. Following this lead, George Reid made Empire Day a national event in Australia. It remained a public holiday until 1958.

Alfred Deakin

06 Jul 1905

Prime Minister for the 2nd time
Alfred Deakin became Prime Minister for the second time, when the Reid government lost majority support in the House of Representatives.

Alfred Deakin

18 Oct 1905

Wireless communications
Enactment of the Wireless Telegraphy Act gave the Postmaster-General responsibility for radio communications. Signals had first been sent across the Atlantic, from England to the United States, four years before. In 1905 radio signals were successfully sent across Bass Strait.

Alfred Deakin

18 Jun 1906

Counting the Commonwealth
GH Knibbs was appointed head of the new Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics. Some 4.5 million people were counted in the first census on 3 April 1911. Indigenous people were first included officially in the federal census in 1971 when the population was 12.8 million.

Alfred Deakin

01 Sep 1906

Papua: a new territory
Southeastern New Guinea became the Australian territory of Papua. Britain had annexed the area in 1888, following Germany’s annexation of the northeastern region in 1884. The western half of the island had been under Dutch sovereignty since 1828.

Alfred Deakin

12 Dec 1906

1st referendum
At the third federal election, voters approved a change to Section 13 of the Constitution. This minor change adjusted the timing of Senate elections and the date senators would commence their terms of office. This was the first of eight alterations to the Australian Constitution in its first century.

Alfred Deakin

12 Dec 1906

3rd federal election
House of Representatives and 18 Senate seats

Alfred Deakin

02 Jul 1907

Trunk calls begin
The dual-line cables necessary for telephone conversations first linked the Sydney and Melbourne exchanges. The Postmaster-General’s Department completed the main trunk lines to Adelaide in 1914, to Brisbane in 1923 and to Perth in 1930. Tasmania was connected by submarine coaxial cable in 1936.

Alfred Deakin

23 Oct 1907

Women’s work on show
Some 15,000 people crowded Melbourne’s Exhibition Building for the opening of the Australian Exhibition of Women’s Work by Lady Northcote. Pattie Deakin ran the model creche. The five-week exhibition showcased the work of musicians, artists and craftswomen.

Alfred Deakin

08 Nov 1907

The Harvester case
Justice Higgins established the principle of a male basic wage in a Conciliation and Arbitration Court case. This was the only decision under a ‘new protection’ law that tied excise duties to wages. The High Court declared the law unconstitutional a year later.

Alfred Deakin

16 May 1908

Writers fund begins
The Commonwealth Literary Fund was established as a pension fund for writers in poverty. In 1939 the Menzies government, at the urging of James Scullin, transformed it into a grants scheme for writers. The Fund and its Advisory Board ceased in 1973 when they were absorbed into the new Australia Council.

Alfred Deakin

20 Aug 1908

‘Great White Fleet’
In the first United States naval visit to Australia, a fleet of white-painted ships steamed into Sydney Harbour. Their four-month tour of Australian ports was part of a lengthy promotional voyage arranged by US President Theodore Roosevelt.

Alfred Deakin

09 Sep 1908

4th Governor-General
Lord Dudley served as Governor-General to 31 July 1911. Lord Chelmsford was acting Governor-General from 21 January 1909 to 27 January 1910.

Andrew Fisher

13 Nov 1908

5th Prime Minister
Andrew Fisher became Prime Minister after Labor withdrew its support from the minority Deakin government.

Andrew Fisher

15 Dec 1908

1st pensions
The Invalid and Old Age Pensions Act became law and set up a national aged pension scheme. The scheme began in July 1909 for men aged 65. Women aged 60 had to wait until December 1910, when invalid pensions were also introduced.

Andrew Fisher

09 Mar 1909

New endeavour
The Endeavour, an Australian-built hydrographic survey vessel, was the Commonwealth’s first seagoing ship. Its research work included locating fishing grounds off the east coast and in the Great Australian Bight. The ship and crew were lost at sea in 1914, while attempting to rescue a member of the Mawson Antarctic expedition.

Alfred Deakin

02 Jun 1909

Prime Minister for the 3rd time
Alfred Deakin became Prime Minister for the third time after negotiating the ‘fusion’ of members from the three non-Labor political groups in the House of Representatives.

Alfred Deakin

13 Dec 1909

Military training
The Commonwealth Defence Act became law. It provided for the compulsory military training scheme that began on 1 January 1911, and for the establishment of the Royal Military College at Duntroon, Canberra, on 27 June 1911.

Alfred Deakin

13 Dec 1909

High Commissioner
The Act establishing a High Commission in London became law. A month later GH Reid became Australia’s first High Commissioner. During his term the building of Australia House commenced. Reid was also closely involved in ordering the vessels for Australia's first naval fleet.

Alfred Deakin

13 Apr 1910

4th federal election
House of Representatives and 18 Senate seats

Alfred Deakin

13 Apr 1910

Referendum
Voters at the fourth federal election approved the second alteration to the Constitution. This was a minor change to Commonwealth-State arrangements for public debts under Section 105. A second proposal, to amend Section 87 (the ‘Braddon Clause’), was not carried.

Andrew Fisher

29 Apr 1910

Prime Minister for the 2nd time
Andrew Fisher was sworn in as Prime Minister for the second time. On 1 July 1910 the fourth parliament was opened, the first time a Prime Minister had a majority in both Houses.

Andrew Fisher

30 Jun 1910

A flying machine
The government offered 5000 pounds for the invention of a military flying machine. Australia’s first five military aircraft, ordered in 1912, were French and British designs. They were first used in 1914 at the new Central Flying School at Point Cook, Victoria, the nucleus of the Royal Australian Air Force in 1921.

Andrew Fisher

01 Jan 1911

Two new territories
The Northern Territory and the Federal Capital Territory were formally transferred to the Commonwealth. The territory for the new national capital included an area of 2360 square kilometres near Yass, New South Wales and a seaport at Jervis Bay.

Andrew Fisher

26 Apr 1911

Referendum
This referendum included two proposals related to powers of the Commonwealth Parliament over trade and commerce and nationalisation of monopolies, neither of which was carried.

Andrew Fisher

17 Jun 1911

Suffrage in Britain
A week before the Coronation of King George V and Queen Mary, Margaret Fisher led Australian and New Zealand women in a London demonstration. Some 40,000 marched in support of a Bill granting women the right to vote. The British government did not enact the suffrage law until 1919.

Andrew Fisher

22 Jun 1911

King George V and Queen Mary
Prime Minister Andrew Fisher headed an Australian delegation to London, for the coronation in Westminster Abbey and celebrations in the city.

Andrew Fisher

31 Jul 1911

5th Governor-General
Lord Denman was Governor-General until 18 May 1914.

Andrew Fisher

02 Dec 1911

Australian Antarctic expedition
Douglas Mawson left Hobart in the Aurora for Macquarie Island. The expedition spent three years exploring overland and mapping some 1500 kilometres of the coast of Antarctica.

Andrew Fisher

15 Jul 1912

A Commonwealth bank
The Commonwealth Bank began savings bank business in Victoria. It used post offices as agencies to extend facilities to other States. Six months later, on 20 January 1913, it opened for general banking. The Prime Minister laid a foundation stone for the head office at Pitt Street and Martin Place, Sydney. It opened for business on 22 August 1916.

Andrew Fisher

19 Sep 1912

Wattle for the Coat of Arms
A new Commonwealth Coat of Arms was granted. This followed moves to improve the original design by adding the States’ Arms and making the kangaroo and emu more lifelike. The government had declared wattle Australia’s national flower and added it to the new design.

Andrew Fisher

10 Oct 1912

Maternity Allowance Act
Under this ‘baby bonus’ law mothers received 5 pounds on the birth of each child. Indigenous mothers and others not defined as citizens were ineligible for this payment.

Andrew Fisher

02 Jan 1913

First Australian stamp
The Fisher government issued the Commonwealth penny stamp. It featured a kangaroo on a white map of Australia. Although later stamps reintroduced the King’s head, the kangaroo design remained in use for some forty years.

Andrew Fisher

12 Mar 1913

‘I name this city Canberra’
The Foundation Day of the national capital was an elaborate ceremony in the empty paddock that was Capital Hill. Governor-General Lord Denman, Prime Minister Andrew Fisher and Minister for Home Affairs King O'Malley laid the foundation stones of a commemorative column. The column was never finished and the base is now in front of Parliament House.

Andrew Fisher

03 May 1913

5th federal election
House of Representatives and 18 Senate seats

Andrew Fisher

31 May 1913

Referendum
None of the six proposals related to trade and commerce, corporations, industrial matters, trusts, nationalisation of monopolies or railways was carried.

Joseph Cook

24 Jun 1913

6th Prime Minister
Sworn in after a close election result, Prime Minister Joseph Cook held a majority of only one in the House of Representatives.

Joseph Cook

04 Oct 1913

Royal Australian Navy
Huge crowds lined Sydney Harbour for the arrival of Australia’s new naval fleet, the battle cruiser HMAS Australia and three cruisers and three destroyers. The Royal Australian Navy had been established on 19 July 1911. The Naval College had temporary quarters in Victoria until HMAS Creswell at Jervis Bay was opened on 10 February 1915.

Joseph Cook

30 Mar 1914

Norfolk Island
The Island, governed as part of New South Wales since 1788, was proclaimed a Commonwealth territory, thirteen years after Federation.

Australia at war
Britain declared war on Germany and automatically the British Dominions, including Australia, were also at war. Recruitment began a week later and on 1 November the First Division of the Australian Imperial Force left Australia. They arrived at their training camp in Egypt on 5 December.

Joseph Cook

15 Aug 1914

Panama Canal
The 64 km channel between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans was officially opened. The Panama Canal saved ships making the 11,300 km voyage around Cape Horn. It had taken ten years to build across the isthmus between North and South America.

Joseph Cook

05 Sep 1914

6th federal election
House of Representatives and all 36 Senate seats

Joseph Cook

13 Sep 1914

Capture of New Guinea
An Australian force occupied Rabaul and, on 17 September, the German governor surrendered New Guinea. The area remained under Australian military control until 1921.

Andrew Fisher

17 Sep 1914

Prime Minister for the 3rd time
Andrew Fisher was sworn in as Prime Minister for the third time. Labor was comfortably returned to government at Australia's first double dissolution election on 5 September.

Andrew Fisher

09 Nov 1914

The first Sydney
HMAS Sydney engaged the German cruiser Emden off the Cocos Islands, sinking the enemy ship in the first naval action of the war. Australians celebrated the battle as a successful test of the new Royal Australian Navy.

Andrew Fisher

25 Apr 1915

ANZACs land
The Australian and New Zealand forces landed at Gallipoli. They fought a desperate campaign against Turkish forces until 20 December when 80,000 men successfully withdrew.

Andrew Fisher

12 Jul 1915

Wartime broadcasting
The Department of the Navy separated from the Defence Department and took control of broadcasting for the duration of the war. The departments merged again in 1921.

William Morris Hughes

27 Oct 1915

7th Prime Minister
After the forced resignation of Andrew Fisher, Labor parliamentarians elected WM Hughes as Party leader.

William Morris Hughes

01 Dec 1915

Australian Wheat Board created
This Commonwealth body coordinated State wheat boards to ensure equitable marketing of the Australian wheat crop under wartime conditions. The Prime Minister chaired the Board, which ceased operations in 1923.

William Morris Hughes

29 Apr 1916

Irish rebellion crushed
A pro-independence Easter rebellion in Dublin was violently suppressed by British troops. Protest demonstrations in Australia caused some Australians to be suspicious of the loyalty of people of Irish descent.

William Morris Hughes

28 Jun 1916

National ships
The government established a Commonwealth Shipping Line with the purchase of fifteen seagoing steamers from Britain.

William Morris Hughes

28 Oct 1916

Conscription referendum
The first referendum on compulsory military enlistment failed. The issue bitterly divided communities and created a rift in the Labor Party. On 13 November the Party expelled Prime Minister WM Hughes over his support for conscription.

William Morris Hughes

17 Feb 1917

New Cabinet
WM Hughes formed a new ministry and retained the prime ministership despite his expulsion from the Labor Party. Ten days earlier he had formed the Nationalist Party, merging other expelled Labor members and some former Liberals.

William Morris Hughes

06 Apr 1917

United States at war
President Woodrow Wilson declared war against Germany. The United States joined the Allies in defending Atlantic shipping and on the frontline in France.

William Morris Hughes

05 May 1917

7th federal election
House of Representatives and 18 Senate seats

William Morris Hughes

17 Oct 1917

National railways
The Commonwealth completed construction of the 1690 km Port Augusta to Perth section of the TransAustralia Railway, linking Perth to Sydney. In the Northern Territory, the Commonwealth government had added only 85 km, from Pine Creek to Katherine, to the 235 km line from Darwin to Pine Creek, built by the South Australian government.

William Morris Hughes

07 Nov 1917

Revolution in Russia
Bolshevik revolutionaries occupied the Russian capital, St Petersburg (then Petrograd). They overturned a provisional government established after the forced abdication of Tsar Nicholas II in March.

William Morris Hughes

20 Dec 1917

Peace Army riots
The second conscription referendum failed. The ‘No’ majority was more than double that of the first referendum in 1916. Campaigns were bitterly fought throughout Australia. Women’s Peace Army protestors were arrested in Melbourne. In Warwick, Queensland, an egg thrown at Prime Minister WM Hughes led to his setting up a Commonwealth police force.

William Morris Hughes

10 Jan 1918

Prime ministerial promise
Prime Minister WM Hughes was again sworn in as Prime Minister. He had vowed to resign if the conscription referendum failed. It did, so he had resigned on 8 January. The Nationalists held a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives, and Hughes was not replaced as party leader. The Governor-General thus swore Hughes in again.

William Morris Hughes

03 Aug 1918

Australia House opened
King George V officially opened Australia House on The Strand. Andrew Fisher, the first occupant, had been High Commissioner since 1916.

William Morris Hughes

22 Sep 1918

Prime Minister calling
In the first direct radio telephone call from England to Australia, the Prime Minister spoke from London to Sydney. WM Hughes and Minister for the Navy Joseph Cook were away from Australia for sixteen months from April 1918.

William Morris Hughes

11 Nov 1918

Armistice Day
Germany’s surrender ended World War I. Australia had nearly 60,000 official casualties. This loss was commemorated with the establishment of Armistice Day in 1919, observed each year at 11 am.

William Morris Hughes

17 Dec 1918

Darwin rebellion
Some 1000 demonstrators marched to the Residency in Darwin. They burnt an effigy of Northern Territory Administrator John Gilruth and demanded his resignation. Their grievances were against the two main Territory employers, Vestey’s meatworks and the Commonwealth. Gilruth left Darwin soon after, while Vestey’s meatworks closed in 1920.

William Morris Hughes

06 Mar 1919

Homes for heroes
The Commonwealth War Service Homes Commission began operations. It provided low-interest home loans for returned servicemen.

William Morris Hughes

09 May 1919

Seamen’s strike
Australia’s seamen went on strike for better wages and conditions. The immediate interruption of fuel and coal supplies created a serious crisis that worsened as job losses mounted. The strike lasted the whole winter before the demands were met.

William Morris Hughes

28 Jun 1919

Treaty of Versailles
At the end of the six-month Peace Conference in Paris, Australia’s Prime Minister WM Hughes and Minister for the Navy Joseph Cook signed the Peace Treaty at Versailles that established the League of Nations. With Britain’s other dominions, Australia established its status as an independent member of the world’s first international organisation of governments.

William Morris Hughes

02 Jul 1919

The Nauru mandate
Britain, New Zealand and Australia signed an agreement for Australian administration of Nauru, located 4000 km northeast of Sydney. Australia had captured the island from Germany in 1914 and in 1920 the League of Nations designated it an Australian mandate.

William Morris Hughes

10 Dec 1919

First flight
Ross and Keith Smith won the prize money offered by the government for the first flight from Britain to Australia. They landed their Vickers Vimy aircraft in Darwin after a 28-day flight from Hounslow in England.

William Morris Hughes

13 Dec 1919

8th federal election
House of Representatives and 19 Senate seats

William Morris Hughes

13 Dec 1919

Referendum
Held with the 8th federal election, neither of the two proposals related to legislative powers and the nationalisation of monopolies (this being the third referendum at which the latter was put to the electorate) was carried.

William Morris Hughes

22 Jan 1920

Country Party
The Australian Country Party was officially formed by members of the Farmers Federation. The new party benefited from the introduction of preferential voting for both Houses of parliament. At the 14 December 1919 election it won 8 seats in the House of Representatives.

William Morris Hughes

27 May 1920

Prince of Wales tour
Prince Edward (later briefly King Edward VIII) arrived in Australia. The 26-year-old travelled overland from Adelaide to Wallangarra, on the Queensland border. The royal visitors were provided with ‘a varied programme of kangaroo and emu hunting, buckjumping, with exhibitions of shearing etc’. Hugely popular, the Prince of Wales left Australia on 18 August 1920.

William Morris Hughes

31 Aug 1920

Engineers case
The High Court decision in the case Amalgamated Society of Engineers v Adelaide Steamship Co Ltd was a milestone in constitutional interpretation and in Commonwealth-State relations. In holding that Arbitration Court decisions were binding on State governments, the Court took an expansive view of how Commonwealth powers derive from the Constitution.

William Morris Hughes

06 Oct 1920

7th Governor-General
Lord Forster served as Governor-General until 8 October 1925.

William Morris Hughes

30 Oct 1920

Communist Party of Australia
The Party was first formed at a Sydney meeting. It later divided into two groups. One favoured adherence to doctrine, the other a practical trades union approach.

William Morris Hughes

31 Dec 1920

Trouble in Canberra
Prime Minister WM Hughes removed Walter Burley Griffin as director of construction at Canberra after disagreements over his supervisory role. Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahoney Griffin had won the competition to design the national capital on 14 May 1912.

William Morris Hughes

07 Mar 1921

Health a federal concern
The Commonwealth Department of Health was formed. It took over the quarantine service of the Department of Trade and Customs, the Australian Institute of Tropical Medicine and the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories. It also became responsible for national health functions such as the treatment of infectious diseases in returned soldiers.

William Morris Hughes

12 Aug 1921

Australian Federation of Women Voters
Bessie Rischbieth founded this federated body of Australian women’s political associations. Their aim was to participate in the international federations and establish credentials as lobbyists and advisers at the League of Nations. As a result of their efforts, each Australian delegation to the League of Nations General Assembly included a woman member.

William Morris Hughes

01 Feb 1922

Red flag for merchant ships
The red Australian flag, authorised by the British Admiralty for merchant shipping in 1902, became compulsory under the 1920 Navigation Act.

William Morris Hughes

21 May 1922

Empire settlement
The Empire Settlement Act enabled the intake of large numbers of British immigrants. Over 200,000 assisted settlers arrived in Australia between 1922 and 1929.

William Morris Hughes

03 Nov 1922

QANTAS
Australia’s first airline, Queensland and Northern Territory Air Service began regular passenger services with two war surplus biplanes. The first flight was from Charleville to Cloncurry, Queensland.

William Morris Hughes

16 Dec 1922

9th federal election
House of Representatives and 19 Senate seats

Stanley Melbourne Bruce

09 Feb 1923

8th Prime Minister
Stanley Melbourne Bruce was sworn in as Prime Minister after the Nationalist Party displaced WM Hughes as leader.

Stanley Melbourne Bruce

09 Jun 1923

Loan Council
The government agreed to form a Loan Council to coordinate States’ borrowing. The Council’s first meeting was on 1 February 1924.

Stanley Melbourne Bruce

05 Oct 1923

Imperial Conference
Prime Minister SM Bruce arrived in London for the Imperial Conference. He advocated the ‘men, money and markets’ empire trade policy that shaped Australia’s agricultural, pastoral, financial and population policies throughout the 1920s.

Stanley Melbourne Bruce

01 Jan 1924

Mt Stromlo observatory
With the appointment of its first director, the Commonwealth Solar Observatory was established. Located on Mount Stromlo, outside Canberra, it enabled scientific research on the sun and geophysics.

Stanley Melbourne Bruce

01 Jan 1924

Federal roads
The Australian Automobile Association was formed. It lobbied for federal finance for roads and a national traffic code. Commonwealth funds for national highways were provided for in the Federal Roads Act 1926.

Stanley Melbourne Bruce

30 Jan 1924

Cabinet in Canberra
The first Cabinet meeting was held in Canberra. The ministers were lodged at Yarralumla House, later the residence of the Governor-General. The building of Parliament House had begun on 28 August 1923.

Stanley Melbourne Bruce

04 Sep 1924

Agricultural science
The Commonwealth Citrus Research Station opened at Griffith, New South Wales in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area. In March 1927 it became a research station of the Commonwealth Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.

Stanley Melbourne Bruce

14 Apr 1925

Big brother
The ‘Big Brother’ child immigration scheme was launched as part of the scheme for British settlement in Australia. The Barnardo and Fairbridge organisations brought children for settlement at locations around Australia. Fairbridge farm school at Pinjarra, Western Australia had been established in 1912.

Stanley Melbourne Bruce

08 Oct 1925

8th Governor-General
Lord Stonehaven served as Governor-General until 22 January 1931. Lord Somers was acting Governor-General from 3 October 1930 to 22 January 1931.

Stanley Melbourne Bruce

14 Nov 1925

Compulsory voting
The 10th general election was the first in which voting was compulsory after the Commonwealth Electoral Act was enacted on 10 October 1924.

Stanley Melbourne Bruce

14 Nov 1925

10th federal election
House of Representatives and 22 Senate seats

Stanley Melbourne Bruce

22 Jun 1926

CSIRO
The government set up the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (later CSIRO) to foster applied research. In 1927 the CSIR moved into its building at Black Mountain in Canberra.

Stanley Melbourne Bruce

04 Sep 1926

Referendum
Two proposals, one related to industry and commerce and the second to the power of the Parliament to protect the public against the interruption of essential services, were rejected by the Australian electorate.

Stanley Melbourne Bruce

19 Nov 1926

Free and equal
At the Imperial Conference agreement was reached on the independent and equal relationship of the British Dominions. The agreement recognised the Dominions as ‘autonomous communities within the British empire, equal in status . . . and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations’.

Stanley Melbourne Bruce

01 Dec 1926

1st petrol tax
A federal levy on imported petrol was imposed for the first time. A tax on locally refined petrol was introduced the following year. The Commonwealth Oil Refineries at Laverton, Victoria and the Shell company’s works at Clyde, New South Wales began refining petrol in 1924.

Stanley Melbourne Bruce

30 Apr 1927

Forestry School
The Forestry School, established in Adelaide, transferred to permanent premises in the national capital.

Stanley Melbourne Bruce

09 May 1927

New Parliament House
The ceremonial opening of parliament in Parliament House, Canberra was the deadline for completion of many other buildings, including the Hotel Canberra and Hotel Kurrajong, and the prime ministerial residence, The Lodge. As Commonwealth departments were transferred from Melbourne to Canberra, housing construction was accelerated in an attempt to keep pace.

Stanley Melbourne Bruce

02 Jun 1927

Australian films
A Royal Commission into the film industry was appointed. It reported in April on the state of film-making in Australia. It also reported on the process of distributing films from the United States to the 1250 Australian cinemas.

Stanley Melbourne Bruce

09 Jun 1928

1st Pacific flight
Charles Kingsford-Smith and Charles Ulm completed the first flight across the Pacific. They flew the Southern Cross from Oakland, California to Brisbane. In August they made the first non-stop flight across Australia, from Perth to Point Cook. In September, they achieved the first flight from Australia to New Zealand.

Referendum
A successful referendum altered constitutional provisions on Commonwealth-State financial relations. The referendum was held with the 11th federal election.

Stanley Melbourne Bruce

31 Jan 1929

The Warrigal
The Royal Australian Air Force purchased its first Australian plane, the Warrigal 1.

Stanley Melbourne Bruce

02 Aug 1929

End of the line
The Alice Springs to Adelaide railway line was completed. In 1930, however, Commonwealth construction of the North Australia railway ceased with the line from Darwin terminating at Birdum.

Stanley Melbourne Bruce

23 Aug 1929

Industrial challenge
The government attempted to pass a Bill abolishing the Conciliation and Arbitration Court. The Bill aimed to relegate arbitration powers to the States, except in the ‘external’ industries of shipping and stevedoring.

Stanley Melbourne Bruce

12 Oct 1929

12th federal election
House of Representatives only

James Scullin

22 Oct 1929

9th Prime Minister
James Scullin was sworn in as Prime Minister after the election of Australia’s third Labor government.

James Scullin

24 Oct 1929

Wall Street collapse
The fall of the New York Stock Exchange had an impact throughout the world. Investment loans were called in and financial firms across the globe collapsed.

James Scullin

01 Jan 1930

Ticket to fly
Pioneer aviators Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm began the first air service between Sydney and Brisbane.

James Scullin

01 Dec 1930

New High Court justices
The Labor government filled two vacancies on the High Court. Thirty-six-year-old Herbert Vere Evatt became the youngest Justice of the High Court. Edward Aloysius McTiernan went on to become the oldest. Justice McTiernan served the longest term on the High Court, retiring in September 1976 at the age of 84.

James Scullin

22 Jan 1931

9th Governor-General an Australian
Sir Isaac Isaacs became the first Australian-born Governor-General. He served until 23 January 1936.

James Scullin

19 Apr 1931

United Australia Party
Joseph Lyons formed the United Australia Party. It was a merger of the Nationalist Party and other groups, after Lyons left the Labor Party.

James Scullin

19 Dec 1931

13th federal election
House of Representatives and 18 Senate seats

Joseph Lyons

06 Jan 1932

10th Prime Minister
Joseph Lyons was sworn in as Prime Minister. His new United Australia Party won government at the election on 19 December.

Joseph Lyons

03 May 1932

Unemployment relief
The Loan (Unemployment Relief Works) Act authorised the government to grant money from a fund of 1,800,000 pounds for relief work approved by employment councils in each State.

Joseph Lyons

01 Jul 1932

The ABC is born
The Australian Broadcasting Commission was established to set up and operate national broadcasting stations. Broadcast programs were to address as many of the interests of the community as compatible with ‘suitable broadcasting’.

Joseph Lyons

29 Nov 1932

Nine miles from Gundagai
Prime Minister Joseph Lyons unveiled the ‘Dog on the Tucker Box’ statue near Gundagai, in the southwest of New South Wales. Thousands of people assembled for the ceremony.

Joseph Lyons

07 Feb 1933

Australian territory in Antarctica
The Australian Antarctic Territory was formally proclaimed by Douglas Mawson aboard the Discovery in Antarctic waters. Britain had ceded Antarctic claims to Australia and the Australian Antarctic Territory Acceptance Act came into effect from 24 August 1936.

Joseph Lyons

14 Jul 1933

Nazi government
The National Socialist Party assumed power in Germany. It was declared the only legal political party.

Joseph Lyons

15 Sep 1934

14th federal election
House of Representatives and 18 Senate seats

Joseph Lyons

06 Nov 1934

Egon Kisch
Journalist Egon Kisch was invited to speak at a conference in Melbourne but he was prevented from leaving his ship at Fremantle. In Sydney, the government attempted to bar his entry by giving him a dictation test in Gaelic, knowing he spoke seven European languages. Kisch challenged the ban on his entry and won the case. He spoke at workers’ meetings until he left Australia in March 1935.

Joseph Lyons

06 May 1935

Silver jubilee
King George V and Queen Mary celebrated the 25th anniversary of their reign. Among the guests were Robert and Pattie Menzies, making their first visit to Britain.

Joseph Lyons

18 Nov 1935

Invasion of Ethiopia
Australia joined other League of Nations members in advocating sanctions against Italy after Italian troops entered Ethiopia in October. The Lyons government's Sanctions Act 1935 prohibited Australians from all commercial dealings with Italy.

Joseph Lyons

20 Jan 1936

King Edward VIII
The Prince of Wales succeeded to the throne on the death of his father, King George V, but abdicated on 11 December 1936. His brother, the Duke of York was proclaimed King George VI two days later.

Joseph Lyons

23 Jan 1936

10th Governor-General
Lord Gowrie served as Governor-General until 30 January 1945.

Joseph Lyons

06 Mar 1937

Referendum
At this referendum two proposals were rejected by voters. The first sought to give the Commonwealth Parliament power with respect to air navigation and aircraft, while the second related to Section 92 of the Constitution, trade within the Commonwealth to be free.

Joseph Lyons

01 May 1937

King George VI
After the abdication of Edward VIII on 11 December 1936, the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth took place in Westminster Abbey.

Joseph Lyons

24 Jun 1937

Censorship Board
The Commonwealth Literature Censorship Board was established. The new Board (temporarily) lifted the old Book Censorship Advisory Committee’s ban on James Joyce’s Ulysses.

Joseph Lyons

23 Oct 1937

15th federal election
House of Representatives and 19 Senate seats

Joseph Lyons

26 Jan 1938

Aboriginal Day of Mourning
The 150th anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet in Sydney Cove was officially celebrated as Australia’s Sesquicentenary. Unofficially, it was a Day of Mourning for Indigenous people who lobbied in vain for representation in parliament and for legal equality.

Joseph Lyons

31 Mar 1938

Capricornia
Xavier Herbert won the Commonwealth Sesquicentenary literary competition with his novel Capricornia, set in the Northern Territory.

Joseph Lyons

15 Nov 1938

‘Pig iron’ dispute
Waterside workers at Port Kembla, New South Wales refused to load scrap iron destined for Japan, arguing that it would be used in munitions factories. Attorney-General Robert Menzies attempted to enforce the loading of the cargo.

Joseph Lyons

01 Dec 1938

Jewish refugees accepted
Australia agreed to take 15,000 Jewish refugees fleeing from Europe after the German occupation of Austria and Czechoslovakia.

Earle Page

07 Apr 1939

11th Prime Minister
Earle Page became the eleventh Prime Minister following the death of Joseph Lyons. His term lasted nineteen days.

Robert Menzies

26 Apr 1939

12th Prime Minister
Robert Menzies was sworn in as Prime Minister, after he was elected leader of the United Australia Party.

Robert Menzies

03 Sep 1939

Australia declares war on Germany
After German troops invaded Poland on 1 September, Britain declared war. The Dominions, including Australia, followed with separate declarations the same day.

Robert Menzies

20 Oct 1939

Compulsory military training
Six weeks after Australia entered World War II, Prime Minister Robert Menzies announced the reintroduction of compulsory defence training. It took effect on 1 January 1940. Unmarried men aged 21 were required to undergo three months training with the militia.

Robert Menzies

20 Dec 1939

Australia calling
Radio Australia began broadcasting from Sydney. The station moved to Melbourne the following year.

Robert Menzies

07 Jan 1940

Australia’s first diplomats
Australia’s first diplomatic post was set up with the despatch of RG Casey to Washington. On 18 August John Latham was appointed to Tokyo in the first exchange of diplomats with Japan.

Robert Menzies

13 Aug 1940

Canberra air disaster
A Lockheed Hudson plane crashed near the Canberra aerodrome, with the loss of all aboard. The passengers included three federal ministers and the Chief of the General Staff.

14th Prime Minister
John Curtin was sworn in as Prime Minister after the Fadden coalition government lost majority support in the House of Representatives.

John Curtin

19 Nov 1941

The second Sydney
The HMAS Sydney and the German raider Kormoran fought an hour-long battle 150 miles west of Shark Bay, Western Australia. Both vessels were stricken. The Sydney was on fire but moved slowly away. Most of the Kormoran crew survived and were picked up, but the Sydney and all 645 men aboard disappeared. Ten anguished days later Prime Minister John Curtin made the news public.

John Curtin

09 Dec 1941

Declaration of war
Two days after the Japanese attack on the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Australia declared war on Japan, and on axis powers Finland, Hungary and Romania.

John Curtin

19 Feb 1942

Bombing of Darwin
Japanese bombers made the first attack on Darwin four days after Japan captured Singapore. The Japanese advance was stopped in the battles of the Coral Sea and Midway atoll in May, and at Kokoda in November 1942. Attacks on Darwin and Katherine continued until November 1943. Bombs were also dropped on Townsville, Queensland, and Wyndham, Derby, Broome and Port Hedland in Western Australia.

John Curtin

31 May 1942

Submarines in Sydney Harbour
A torpedo fired from a midget submarine missed its target, the USS Chicago, and struck HMAS Kuttabul at Garden Island in Sydney Harbour, killing 19 sailors. Two other midget submarines, launched from a flotilla of Japanese submarines lying off the coast, were disabled and captured.

John Curtin

07 Jun 1942

Income tax goes federal
Enactment of the Income Tax (War-time Arrangements) Act enabled the Commonwealth to take over from the States the power to levy personal income tax.

John Curtin

11 Aug 1942

Hollywood bombshell
Film star and Austrian refugee Hedy Lamarr and a fellow inventor took out a United States patent for a technique for generating a secure spectrum of radio frequencies to guide torpedoes. The technique was later used in missiles and for mobile phones.

John Curtin

24 Dec 1942

Planning for a future
A Department of Post-War Reconstruction was established. Dr HC Coombs was appointed Director-General in January 1943.

John Curtin

03 Mar 1943

Soviet embassy
A Soviet embassy was established in Canberra and an Australian diplomat was posted to Moscow.

John Curtin

14 May 1943

Centaur tragedy
The hospital ship Centaur with 268 people aboard was torpedoed off Cape Moreton, Queensland. It sank in 3 minutes, with all lives lost. It was en route to the war zone and carrying no patients.

First women, 17th parliament
Forty years after women candidates first stood for parliament, Dame Enid Lyons and Dorothy Tangney became the first women to win seats in parliament. Enid Lyons took a seat in the House of Representatives and Dorothy Tangney a seat in the Senate.

John Curtin

22 Jul 1944

World Bank
The agreement by allied powers to establish the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund was reached at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. The initial aim was to establish international institutions to fund reconstruction in countries ravaged by the second world war.

John Curtin

05 Aug 1944

Cowra outbreak
Japanese prisoners of war broke out of their detention camp in Cowra, New South Wales. They were armed with improvised weapons and 231 prisoners were killed and 108 wounded. The survivors were captured in the next few days.

John Curtin

19 Aug 1944

Referendum
A proposal related to post-war reconstruction and democratic rights, including constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech and religion, was not carried.

John Curtin

14 Dec 1944

Liberal Party of Australia
The new party was formed at a conference in Canberra. It emerged from an agreement to merge the United Australia Party and other non-Labor organisations, including the extensive Australian League of Women Voters.

John Curtin

30 Jan 1945

11th Governor-General
The Duke of Gloucester served as Governor-General until 11 March 1947. Sir Winston Dugan was acting Governor-General from 19 January to 11 March 1947.

John Curtin

25 Apr 1945

United Nations
The San Francisco conference to establish the United Nations opened. A new organisation to promote international peace, replacing the League of Nations, had been planned since representatives from China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States met at Dunbarton Oaks in Washington DC in 1944. Forty-six nations sent delegates to draw up the Charter which was signed on 26 June 1945.

John Curtin

08 May 1945

VE-Day
Germany’s surrender to the allied forces ended the war in Europe.

Francis Forde

06 Jul 1945

15th Prime Minister
On the death of John Curtin, deputy Prime Minister Frank Forde was sworn in until the federal parliamentary Labor Party elected a new leader.

Ben Chifley

13 Jul 1945

16th Prime Minister
New Prime Minister Ben Chifley was sworn in after being chosen the day before as the new leader of the Labor Party.

Ben Chifley

06 Aug 1945

Hiroshima
The first atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Three days later a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. On 15 August Japan surrendered, ending the war in the Pacific.

Ben Chifley

17 Oct 1945

Peace time intelligence
The Commonwealth Investigation Service was formed. It combined the wartime Security Service and the Investigation Branch.

Ben Chifley

10 Jul 1946

Parliament at home
Proceedings in the House of Representatives were broadcast for the first time. Legislation required the ABC to relay the parliamentary sessions on the interstate radio network. Senate broadcasts began a week later.

Ben Chifley

15 Aug 1946

Coal Board
Under an agreement with the New South Wales government, a Joint Coal Board was established. It enabled the government to continue the regulation of coal production, distribution and prices managed during the war by the Commonwealth Coal Commissioner. Coal production tripled in the next 25 years. In 2002 the Board was replaced by a private company, Coal Services Pty Ltd.

Ben Chifley

28 Sep 1946

National social security
A referendum to alter Section 51 of the Constitution was successful. It granted the Commonwealth power to provide maternity allowances, widows pensions, child endowment, unemployment, pharmaceutical, sickness and hospital benefits, medical and dental services, and student and family allowances. Two further proposals related to marketing and industrial employment were not carried. The referendum was held with the 18th federal election.

Papua New Guinea
The United Nations granted Australia trusteeship of New Guinea and Papua. The two regions were administered jointly, with the capital at Port Moresby.

Ben Chifley

11 Mar 1947

12th Governor-General
Sir William McKell served as Governor-General until 8 May 1953. Lord Northcote was acting Governor-General from 19 July to 14 December 1951.

Ben Chifley

01 Apr 1947

Woomera
The Woomera rocket range was established as a joint facility for testing British and Australian short and long-range missiles. The range was sited within the 127,000 square kilometre Woomera Prohibited Area in the northwest of South Australia. From 1957 the facility has also been used for Australia’s space program.

Ben Chifley

01 Jul 1947

Good news
At 7 pm, the first ABC news broadcast under amendments to the Broadcasting Act was aired. The changes aimed at removing bias by requiring all news to be produced by ABC journalists, rather than gathered from commercial sources.

Ben Chifley

21 Jul 1947

Displaced persons accepted
Australia’s Minister for Immigration Arthur Calwell signed an agreement with the United Nations Refugee organisation to accept displaced persons from European countries ravaged by war.

Ben Chifley

18 Nov 1947

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
Australia applied the reduced tariffs under the GATT, signed in Geneva that year. The agreement established an international forum to encourage free trade between members by reducing tariffs on traded goods and by providing a means for resolving trade disputes.

Ben Chifley

26 Dec 1947

Antarctic territories
Britain transferred Heard and MacDonald Islands in Antarctica to Australia. The Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition (ANARE) was established in August. Scientific stations were set up on Heard Island in December, and on Macquarie Island the following May, using the small vessel Wyatt Earp.

Ben Chifley

01 Jan 1948

40-hour week
Workers covered by Commonwealth awards began the reduced 40-hour week. The date for the change had been set by the Conciliation and Arbitration Court in September 1947.

Ben Chifley

29 May 1948

Referendum
A proposal to give the Commonwealth Parliament ongoing power to make laws with respect to rents and prices was not carried.

Ben Chifley

24 Jun 1948

National sea and air lines
The Qantas Empire Airways Act meant Australia’s only overseas airline was now publicly owned. In 1948 the government also re-established a Commonwealth shipping line.

Ben Chifley

21 Sep 1948

United Nations president
Australia’s Minister for External Affairs, HV Evatt, was elected president of the United Nations General Assembly.

Ben Chifley

29 Nov 1948

First Holden
Prime Minister Ben Chifley launched the first Holden ‘family motor car’ off the assembly line. Ten years later, 500,000 Holdens had been produced.

Ben Chifley

26 Jan 1949

Australia’s first citizens
The Nationality and Citizenship Act came into operation, creating Australian citizenship. Although Australians remained British subjects, they were now citizens of their own country as well. The Act retained the definition of ‘aliens’ as those not British subjects. Irish citizens and ‘protected persons’ within the British Commonwealth were excepted.

Ben Chifley

16 Mar 1949

ASIO established
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation was established to protect the Commonwealth from espionage, sabotage and subversion.

Ben Chifley

11 May 1949

More seats in parliament
The 1948 Representation Act was enacted. It increased the the House of Representatives from 75 to 122 seats, including a new member for the Australian Capital Territory, and the Senate from 36 to 60 seats. The Commonwealth Electoral Act introduced proportional representation for Senate elections.

Ben Chifley

12 Sep 1949

Planting the national garden
Prime Minister Ben Chifley planted a eucalypt at the entrance of the National Botanic Gardens during a visit by international foresters. The gardens had been established at Black Mountain in Canberra four years before.

Ben Chifley

17 Oct 1949

Snowy scheme
Work began on the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric scheme to divert water from the upper Snowy River through tunnels and dams. The scheme aimed to generate electricity for New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory, and provide water for irrigation along the Murray and Murrumbidgee rivers. This major postwar development project employed many immigrant workers and was completed in 1974.

Ben Chifley

10 Dec 1949

19th federal election
House of Representatives and 42 Senate seats

Robert Menzies

19 Dec 1949

Prime Minister for the 2nd time
Robert Menzies became Prime Minister for the second time, starting a 16-year term that set a record in Australian politics. The Liberal/Country Party coalition had been convincingly returned at the federal election on 10 December.

Robert Menzies

27 Dec 1949

Independence for Indonesia
The independent Republic of the United States of Indonesia was established. This ended five years of revolution and military struggle with the Dutch authorities. Nationalist forces had unilaterally declared independence on 17 August 1945 after almost 350 years of Dutch rule.

Robert Menzies

09 Jan 1950

Colombo Plan
The idea of a network of developing and donor countries was raised at a conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka (then Ceylon). A 5-year scheme commenced in 1951 and was repeated until 1980. The Colombo Plan then became a permanent resource for development and education in East and Southeast Asian countries.

Robert Menzies

23 Jun 1950

Communist Party ban
The Communist Party Dissolution Bill was passed by parliament. After it was enacted in October, the law was challenged in the High Court and, on 9 March 1951, was held to be unconstitutional. The Court ruled that parliament could not invoke its defence powers to rule an association unlawful when the nation was not at war.

Robert Menzies

26 Jul 1950

Australia joins Korean War
The government announced Australia would send troops to fight in Korea. This was part of the United Nations response to the invasion of South Korea by North Korea on 25 June. The frontline moved into North Korea and the war continued for three years.

Robert Menzies

01 Jan 1951

Commonwealth Jubilee
Celebrations began throughout Australia to mark the 50th anniversary of Federation.

Robert Menzies

19 Mar 1951

Parliament dissolved
The Governor-General granted a double dissolution of both houses of parliament. He held that the Senate’s action in referring the Commonwealth Bank Bill to committee was a ‘failure to pass’ the Bill. This was only the second double dissolution of the parliament, the first being in 1914.

Robert Menzies

12 Apr 1951

National Service begins
The first call-up notice was issued under the National Service Act. The Act provided for compulsory military training of 18-year-old men, who were then to remain on the Reserve of the Commonwealth Military Forces for five years. Between 1951 and 1960 when the scheme ended, over 500,000 men had registered, 52 intakes were organised and some 227,000 men were trained.

Robert Menzies

28 Apr 1951

20th federal election
House of Representatives and 60 Senate seats

Robert Menzies

09 Sep 1951

Peace Treaty signed
At San Francisco, 49 nations signed the peace treaty with Japan, agreeing to the binding terms of the war settlement.

Robert Menzies

22 Sep 1951

Referendum on Communism
A referendum to alter the Constitution so as to grant parliament the power to outlaw Communism was lost narrowly.

Robert Menzies

06 Feb 1952

Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II was proclaimed Queen after the death of her father, King George VI. The Queen was crowned in Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953.

Robert Menzies

29 Apr 1952

ANZUS Treaty
The security treaty between Australia, New Zealand and the United States, signed in Canberra on 1 September 1951, came into force. Aimed at maintaining peace in the Pacific, the ANZUS Treaty endured until 1986. The United States suspended their agreement with New Zealand after the ban on nuclear-powered and nuclear-armed US Navy ships in New Zealand waters.

Robert Menzies

03 Oct 1952

Montebello atomic tests
The first British atomic tests were held in the Montebello Islands, 120 km northwest of Dampier, Western Australia. Tests were then moved to Emu Field in northwestern South Australia.

Robert Menzies

08 May 1953

13th Governor-General
Sir William Slim served as Governor-General until 2 February 1960. Lord Northcote was acting Governor-General from 30 July to 22 October 1956 and Sir Dallas Brooks was acting Governor-General from 8 to 16 January 1959.

Robert Menzies

27 Jul 1953

Korean War over
The United Nations and North Korea signed the agreement ending three years of war on 27 July 1953. Relations between the Republic of Korea in the south and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the north remained strained. Australia did not establish diplomatic relations with North Korea until 1974.

Robert Menzies

03 Feb 1954

The Queen in Australia
Queen Elizabeth arrived in Sydney aboard the royal yacht Gothic. The first reigning monarch to visit Australia, the Queen and Prince Phillip covered 10,000 miles by air and 2000 miles on the ground by the time they left Australia on 1 April.

Robert Menzies

13 Feb 1954

Mawson Station
Australia’s first permanent station in Antarctica was established. The Kista Dan was used to convey men and materials. Davis, the second station, was established in 1957 as part of Australia’s contribution to the International Geophysical Year.

Robert Menzies

20 Apr 1954

The Petrovs defect
A week after the defection of Vladimir Petrov, Evdokia Petrov also appealed for political asylum in a dramatic scene at Darwin airport. Based on evidence provided by the two Soviet Embassy cipher officers, a Royal Commission on Espionage was held. After the Commission reported on October 1955, the Petrovs became Melbourne suburbanites Sven and Maria Allyson.

Robert Menzies

29 May 1954

21st federal election
House of Representatives and Senate seats

Robert Menzies

08 Sep 1954

SEATO established
The formation of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organisation, a defence alliance of countries in southeast Asia and part of the southwest Pacific, was aimed at containing Communism. Australia, Britain, France, New Zealand, Pakistan (until 1973), the Philippines, Thailand and the United States were members. SEATO was disbanded in 1977.

Robert Menzies

11 Jun 1955

Privilege of parliament
Newspapermen Frank Browne and Raymond Fitzpatrick were charged in the House of Representatives with breaching parliamentary privilege. In the only such case in the 20th century, they served three months in gaol on the order of Cabinet.

Robert Menzies

23 Oct 1955

Cocos (Keeling) Islands on board
The Cocos (Keeling) Islands became Commonwealth territory with the proclamation of the Cocos (Keeling) Island Act. The 27 coral islands in two atolls are in the Indian Ocean, some 2800 kilometres northwest of Perth.

Robert Menzies

10 Dec 1955

22nd federal election
House of Representatives and 30 Senate seats

Robert Menzies

16 May 1956

Maralinga atomic tests
The first nuclear tests took place at Maralinga, South Australia. This was developed as a permanent test site in response to a request from the British government after the first tests at Montebello and Emu Field in 1953 and 1954. The tests conducted at Maralinga until 1963 were the subject of a Royal Commission in 1984.

Robert Menzies

14 Aug 1956

Boilermakers Case
The Conciliation and Arbitration Court was replaced by the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission and the Commonwealth Industrial Court. This was made necessary by the High Court ruling in the 1956 ‘separation of powers’ Boilermakers Case. The High Court held that judicial matters must be dealt with by a body separate from one dealing with the non-judicial prevention and settlement of industrial disputes.

Robert Menzies

22 Nov 1956

Melbourne Olympic Games
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, opened Australia’s first Olympic Games in Melbourne. The Games were held during the international Suez crisis and the Hungarian Revolution. Television was introduced into Australia to make these the first Olympic Games televised.

Robert Menzies

13 Dec 1956

ASIO Act
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act made ASIO a statutory authority. ASIO had been established by government directive in 1949.

Robert Menzies

27 Aug 1957

Labor Party split
The Democratic Labor Party formed in a breakaway of anti-Communist groups from the Australian Labor Party.

Robert Menzies

10 Oct 1957

Constructing Lake Burley Griffin
The National Capital Development Commission started work on the coordinated planning and development of the national capital. Among elements of the city’s original design implemented was the construction of Lake Burley Griffin. On 31 January 1989 the National Capital Planning Authority replaced the Commission.

Robert Menzies

26 Jan 1958

Nuclear startup
The Australian Atomic Energy Commission’s nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights near Sydney began operation. The research facility was established in 1955 after the Commission was set up under the Atomic Energy Act in 1953. It was renamed the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation in 1987.

Robert Menzies

05 Feb 1958

Historic British guest
Harold Macmillan became the first British Prime Minister to visit Australia. His visit was six years after the first visit by the reigning monarch.

Robert Menzies

24 May 1958

A new Commonwealth Day
Empire Day became Commonwealth Day and was no longer celebrated as a public holiday. This anniversary of Queen Victoria’s birthday had been a public holiday since 1905.

Robert Menzies

01 Oct 1958

Christmas Island territory
The proclamation of the Christmas Island Act made an Australian territory located in the Indian Ocean, 2623 kilometres northwest of Perth. Initially the island was administered by an ‘official representative’ of the Australian government. From 1968 an Administrator reporting to the Minister for Territories took this role.

Robert Menzies

22 Nov 1958

23rd federal election
House of Representatives and 32 Senate seats

Robert Menzies

01 Dec 1959

Antarctic Treaty
Australia signed the treaty which came into force on 23 June 1961. It established the legal framework for the management of Antarctica and promoted international cooperation in Antarctic scientific research.

Robert Menzies

14 Jan 1960

A Reserve Bank
The proclamation of the Commonwealth Banks Act and the Reserve Bank Act split the Commonwealth Bank of Australia into the Commonwealth Banking Corporation and the Reserve Bank of Australia.

Robert Menzies

02 Feb 1960

14th Governor-General
Lord Dunrossil served as Governor-General until 3 February 1961. Sir Dallas Brooks was acting Governor-General from 3 February to 3 August 1961.

Robert Menzies

25 Feb 1960

US space tracking
Australia signed an agreement to allow the United States to establish satellite tracking stations. These were located in the Australian Capital Territory at Orroral Creek, Honeysuckle Creek and Tidbinbilla.

Robert Menzies

01 Mar 1960

Good news at the chemist
A new pharmaceutical benefits scheme commenced, with a wider range of prescribed medicines subsidised by the government.

Robert Menzies

16 Nov 1960

Credit squeeze
The government’s response to accelerating inflation and falling wool prices led to a recession. This was the first postwar pitfall for the energetic building industry, eager car salesmen and committed consumers.

Robert Menzies

13 Dec 1960

New security law
Amendments to the Crimes Act introduced tougher definitions and penalties for espionage, sabotage and treason, and identified a new crime of treachery.

Robert Menzies

01 Feb 1961

‘No fault’ divorce
The Matrimonial Causes Act came into operation. It established a uniform basis for divorce law throughout Australia and recognised a specified period of separation as sufficient grounds to end marriage.

Robert Menzies

17 Jul 1961

Bonegilla riot
Migrants from eastern Europe staged a violent protest against conditions at the migrant hostel at Bonegilla in Victoria.

Robert Menzies

03 Aug 1961

15th Governor-General
Lord De L’Isle served as Governor-General until 22 September 1965.

Robert Menzies

31 Oct 1961

National Astronomical Observatory
The 64-metre radio telescope at Parkes in western New South Wales was opened. It was one of the two largest telescopes in the world for radio observations of the southern sky.

Robert Menzies

03 Dec 1961

The Moonie field
Oil was discovered in explorations at Moonie in southern Queensland. This became Australia’s first commercial oilfield. A pipeline to Brisbane opened on 8 April 1964.

Robert Menzies

09 Dec 1961

24th federal election
House of Representatives and 31 Senate seats

Robert Menzies

09 Apr 1962

Interstate direct dial
A coaxial cable linking Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne was completed. It enabled a caller to dial numbers at exchanges on the other end of the trunk lines, rather than needing an operator to make the connection. The broadband link also enabled data transmission. The last telegram transmitted by Morse Code was sent on 13 December that year.

Robert Menzies

02 Nov 1962

Swan Lake
The first performance of the Australian Ballet in Sydney was a triumph, not only for the new company, but for those in the government who saw supporting national arts initiatives as a move towards greater cultural independence from Britain.

Robert Menzies

01 May 1963

Glorious New Guinea
Indonesia annexed the former Dutch province of western New Guinea and named it Irian Jaya, which means 'Glorious New Guinea'. After Indonesia held a controversial ‘free choice’ vote on self-determination in 1969, the United Nations recognised Irian Jaya as an Indonesian state. An independence movement has continued to protest Indonesian rule.

Robert Menzies

14 Aug 1963

Bark petitions
Yolngu people petitioned the House of Representatives after the government excised land from the Arnhem Land reserve on 13 March, without consulting the traditional owners. When bauxite mining at Yirrkala went ahead, the Yolngu took their case against the Nabalco mining company to the Northern Territory Supreme Court. In its 1971 decision, the court did not recognise their claim.

Robert Menzies

01 Nov 1963

A national franchise achieved
Indigenous people throughout Australia won the suffrage on the same basis as other electors when an amendment to the Commonwealth Electoral Act became law. The 1963 election was the first federal election for Indigenous people in Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory. Those in the other States had won voting rights in 1949.

Robert Menzies

30 Nov 1963

25th federal election
House of Representatives

Robert Menzies

03 Dec 1963

International direct dial
International dialling became possible with the opening of COMPAC, the Commonwealth Pacific cable. This was part of a scheme to connect the British Commonwealth by telephone. The cable was re-routed after South Africa’s decision to leave the Commonwealth. The COMPAC cable had 80 telephone circuits, each able to carry 22 telegraph circuits.

Robert Menzies

10 Feb 1964

Naval disaster
The destroyer HMAS Voyager sank off Jervis Bay, New South Wales after a collision with the aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne. Two Royal Commissions were held to investigate the cause of the disaster in which 81 sailors died.

Robert Menzies

20 Aug 1964

Australia joins INTELSAT
Australia became part of the International Telecommunications Satellite Consortium. INTELSAT was established to develop a global system of commercial satellite links.

Robert Menzies

05 Nov 1964

National Service lottery
Cabinet decided to re-introduce compulsory military service, which had ended in 1960. The National Service Act enabled government to conscript men for a two-year term with a further three years in the Reserve. Marbles denoting birth dates were drawn from a lottery barrel to select those who would be called up. Between the first ballot in 1965 and the last in1972, some 63,000 men were conscripted.

Robert Menzies

28 Apr 1965

War in Vietnam
Prime Minister Robert Menzies announced Australian troops would be sent to Vietnam to support United States forces. The first battalion arrived in Vietnam the following month. After March 1966, National Servicemen were sent to Vietnam to fight in units of the Australian Regular Army. Some 19,000 conscripts were sent in the next four years.

Robert Menzies

22 Sep 1965

16th Governor-General
Lord Casey served as Governor-General until 30 April 1969.

Robert Menzies

01 Oct 1965

Rhodesia sanctioned
The government followed Britain in imposing economic sanctions on Southern Rhodesia. When Britain refused to grant independence, the Ian Smith government had declared self-government. It suppressed groups such as the Zimbabwe African National Union. On 18 April 1980 Southern Rhodesia became the independent republic of Zimbabwe. The leader of the Union was its first Prime Minister.

Harold Holt

26 Jan 1966

17th Prime Minister
After a record 16-year term, Sir Robert Menzies resigned and Harold Holt was sworn in.

Harold Holt

14 Feb 1966

Dollars and cents
Australia changed to a decimal currency. Pounds, shillings and pence were replaced with the new currency.

Harold Holt

27 Aug 1966

Gurindji strike
At Wave Hill in the Northern Territory, 200 Gurindji workers for the Vestey pastoral company went on strike. They were campaigning for recognition of rights to an area at Wattie Creek, on their traditional lands.

Harold Holt

26 Nov 1966

26th federal election
House of Representatives

Harold Holt

27 May 1967

Historic referendum
In the largest majority of any Australian referendum, voters overwhelmingly supported a proposal to count Indigenous people in the national census and to give the federal parliament power to legislate for Indigenous people. A second proposal related to increases to numbers in the House of Representative was not carried.

Harold Holt

16 Sep 1967

North West Cape
The government approved the establishment of a United States Navy communications base in Western Australia that opened on 16 September 1967. A top security joint space facility was established at Pine Gap, near Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.

Harold Holt

19 Nov 1967

WRE-SAT
Australia’s first satellite was launched from the Woomera rocket range, carrying research instruments from the Weapons Research Establishment.

John McEwen

19 Dec 1967

18th Prime Minister
John McEwen was sworn in as Prime Minister two days after Harold Holt disappeared in the ocean off Portsea, Victoria.

John Gorton

10 Jan 1968

19th Prime Minister
After the Liberal Party elected Senator John Gorton as the new Party leader, he was sworn in as Prime Minister.

John Gorton

31 Jan 1968

Independent Nauru
Nauru gained independence from Australia and special member status in the British Commonwealth. Australia, New Zealand and Britain handed over their joint control of the local phosphate industry in 1970.

John Gorton

04 Jul 1968

Moratorium protest
A major demonstration in the ongoing campaigns against the war in Vietnam ended in violence. Crowds outside the United States consulate in Melbourne were charged by mounted police. Prime Minister John Gorton had announced in February that no further Australian troops would be sent to Vietnam, but 8000 men were already fighting there.

John Gorton

28 Oct 1968

The postman calls once
Twice-daily mail deliveries, an urban standard since Federation, ceased around Australia. The previous year the national postcode system had been introduced to facilitate sorting large volumes of mail.

John Gorton

01 Dec 1968

Full wages
For the first time Aboriginal workers on Northern Territory pastoral stations earned full wages. The award wage entitlement was later extended to all Indigenous employees of the Commonwealth government.

John Gorton

30 Apr 1969

17th Governor-General
Perth-born Sir Paul Hasluck served as Governor-General until 11 July 1974.

John Gorton

19 Jun 1969

Almost equal pay
After decades of campaigning, women workers were granted equal pay rates with men doing comparable work. Because the Arbitration Commission’s decision was for incremental increases, pay parity was not achieved until 1972.

John Gorton

21 Jul 1969

Men on the moon
When two United States astronauts stepped onto the moon, millions of viewers around the world watched on television. The images were received from Apollo II via Australia’s giant telescope in Parkes, New South Wales. The signals were sent from Parkes to Sydney by microwave, and then relayed as television signals to the ABC studios at Gore Hill in Sydney, and then to Houston, Texas for the international telecast.

John Gorton

25 Oct 1969

27th federal election
House of Representatives

John Gorton

29 Nov 1969

The Indian-Pacific completed
The final section of the transcontinental railway was rebuilt to a standard gauge. Preparations then began for the service enabling passengers to cross the continent without changing trains at State borders.

John Gorton

16 Dec 1969

Coming home
Prime Minister John Gorton announced that a withdrawal of Australian troops from Vietnam would commence the following year.

John Gorton

04 Jul 1970

Changing to metric
A Metric Conversion Board was established to implement a gradual transfer from imperial to metric weights and measures.

John Gorton

01 Sep 1970

Uranium discovered
A rich uranium deposit was reported at Nabarlek in the Northern Territory. Prime Minister John Gorton warned two weeks later that any foreign takeover would be prevented if necessary by legislation.

John Gorton

18 Sep 1970

Second moratorium
The second Vietnam moratorium also involved massive rallies around Australia. In November a battalion returning after its tour of duty was not replaced. This was the beginning of the reduction in Australian forces in Vietnam.

William McMahon

10 Mar 1971

20th Prime Minister
After displacing John Gorton as Liberal Party leader, William McMahon was sworn in as Prime Minister.

William McMahon

24 May 1971

Being counted
Senator Neville Bonner became the first Aboriginal parliamentarian. He was nominated by the Queensland Liberal Party for a vacant Senate seat. Indigenous people were included in the national census for the first time in 1971, following the 1967 amendment to the Constitution.

William McMahon

18 Aug 1971

The Vietnam toll
Prime Minister William McMahon announced the final withdrawal of Australian troops from Vietnam. By the time the last men had returned home in 1972, more than 46,000 Australian personnel had served in Vietnam, with 3000 wounded and 500 dead.

William McMahon

02 Nov 1971

Dinner at the White House
At an official dinner with President and Mrs Nixon at the White House, the prime ministerial couple attracted international attention. Television and magazines relayed pictures of Sonia McMahon’s diplomatically daring dress.

William McMahon

26 Jan 1972

A tent embassy
Aboriginal people set up a tent ‘embassy’ in front of Parliament House. Though police removed it several times, it was replaced until February 1975. A second tent embassy, opened on the same site in January 1992, still stands in front of Old Parliament House.

William McMahon

02 Dec 1972

28th federal election – House of Representatives
Coalition under Prime Minister William McMahon lost government.

Gough Whitlam

05 Dec 1972

21st Prime Minister
Labor was elected to government for the first time in 23 years. Gough Whitlam and deputy Lance Barnard were sworn in to comprise the first ministry until a Cabinet was chosen.

Gough Whitlam

19 Dec 1972

Department of Aboriginal Affairs
One of the early reforms of the new Whitlam government was upgrading the Office of Aboriginal Affairs to ministerial level. This fulfilled an election promise designed to meet the responsibilities allocated by the 1967 Referendum.

Gough Whitlam

19 Oct 1973

Queen of Australia
The Royal Style and Titles Act altered the formal title of Queen Elizabeth II to refer specifically to Australia. This was one of the few Bills of the Australian parliament enacted by the monarch personally, rather than by the Governor-General as vice-regal authority. Queen Elizabeth signed her assent during the Royal Tour for the opening of the Sydney Opera House.

Gough Whitlam

31 Oct 1973

Whitlam in China
The first visit of an Australian Prime Minister to China marked Australia’s trade agreement with the People's Republic of China. Gough Whitlam had visited China in 1971, as part of a Labor Party delegation, a month before United States President Nixon made his historic visit.

Gough Whitlam

04 Dec 1973

Governing the continental shelf
The Sea and Submerged Lands Act extended Australian territorial seas from three to twelve miles. This gave the Commonwealth sovereignty of the sea and sovereign rights to resources to the extent of the continental shelf. Australia was a signatory to United Nations Conventions in 1958 and 1964 recognising national rights to territorial seas beyond the three-mile limit, mainly to enable member nations to protect their fishing grounds.

Gough Whitlam

08 Dec 1973

Referendum
At this referendum two proposals were rejected by voters. One sought to give the Commonwealth Parliament power to make laws with respect to prices, and the second with respect to incomes.

Gough Whitlam

23 Feb 1974

Saturday closing
Official post offices ended Saturday opening. On 1 July 1975 Saturday mail deliveries ceased. On the same date two statutory corporations, the Australian Postal Commission and the Australian Telecommunications Commission were established, replacing the Postmaster-General's Department.

Referendum
Australian voters rejected four proposals related to simultaneous elections in the House and Senate, allowing electors in territories to vote at referendums, determining the average size of electorates in each state, and giving the Commonwealth Parliament powers to borrow money for any local government body.

Gough Whitlam

11 Jul 1974

18th Governor-General
Sir John Kerr served as Governor-General until 8 December 1977.

Gough Whitlam

05 Aug 1974

Territories get Senate seats
The Senate was expanded to 64 seats when two Senate seats each were assigned to the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. This legislation was challenged in the High Court, and upheld.

Gough Whitlam

24 Dec 1974

Cyclone Tracy
On Christmas Eve 65 people lost their lives when a cyclone destroyed 90 per cent of homes in Darwin. Residents were without shelter, power, transport or water and sewerage services. Acting Prime Minister Jim Cairns ordered the evacuation of the population.

Gough Whitlam

31 Dec 1974

Diplomatic relations with North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea opened an embassy in Australia. The following April an Australian embassy opened in North Korea. On 30 October 1975, North Korea withdrew its embassy from Canberra and on 6 November expelled the staff of the Australian embassy in Pyongyang.

Gough Whitlam

14 Feb 1975

Order of Australia
Queen Elizabeth signs Letters Patent establishing an Australian Honours system to replace British Honours for Australians.

Gough Whitlam

13 Mar 1975

Conservation
Enactment of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act

Gough Whitlam

30 Apr 1975

Evacuation of Saigon
North Vietnamese troops occupied Saigon and remaining Australian and United States personnel were evacuated. Under the new regime, North and South Vietnam were unified. Saigon, the southern capital became Ho Chi Minh City.

Gough Whitlam

11 Jun 1975

Law rules
The Racial Discrimination Act enacted, outlawing discrimination on the grounds of race.

Gough Whitlam

12 Jun 1975

Federal family law
Enactment of the Family Law Act provides for a Family Court of Australia. The new Court came into operation on 6 January 1976.

Gough Whitlam

01 Jul 1975

Medibank begins
The government introduced Medibank, Australia’s first national health insurance scheme.

Gough Whitlam

16 Aug 1975

Handover at Wattie Creek
At Daguragu in the Northern Territory, Vincent Lingiari of the Gurindji people formally accepted from Prime Minister Gough Whitlam title deeds to a part of their traditional lands.

Gough Whitlam

16 Sep 1975

Independence Day
Papua New Guinea became independent, ending remaining Australian responsibilities in the self-governing country.

Malcolm Fraser

11 Nov 1975

22nd Prime Minister
After the Governor-General Sir John Kerr dismissed the Labor government, Malcolm Fraser became ‘caretaker’ Prime Minister pending a general election.

Treaty of Friendship
The Australia-Japan Treaty of Friendship was signed, confirming the important trade relations between the two nations. By 1970 Japan had become Australia’s main overseas customer, with some 19.4 per cent of export trade while Britain’s share fell to 13.4 per cent.

Malcolm Fraser

16 Dec 1976

Land rights
Enactment of Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act

Malcolm Fraser

02 Feb 1977

A federal court
The first judges of the Federal Court were sworn in by the Attorney-General. The jurisdiction of the Court included the areas previously covered by the Industrial Court and the Bankruptcy Court. It also heard appeals from State and Territory courts in specific federal matters. The Federal Court is subject only to the High Court of Australia.

Malcolm Fraser

07 Mar 1977

Royal tourists
Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh spent three weeks in Australia on a tour to celebrate the silver jubilee of the Queen’s reign.

Malcolm Fraser

21 May 1977

Referendum
Of the four proposals put to voters at this referendum, only three were carried. These related to Senate casual vacancies, giving residents of the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory the right to vote in constitutional elections, and retirement of federal judges. The rejected fourth proposal related to the introduction of simultaneous elections.

Malcolm Fraser

15 Jun 1977

Gleneagles agreement
At a meeting in Scotland, Commonwealth countries affirmed opposition to racial discrimination in sport and insisted that South Africa must lift apartheid to compete in the Commonwealth Games scheduled for Edmonton in Canada that year.

Malcolm Fraser

01 Jul 1977

Ombudsman
The first Commonwealth Ombudsman took office. The Ombudsman has responsibility to investigate complaints about administrative decisions and make recommendations for remedy.

Malcolm Fraser

23 Aug 1977

Uranium
The Fraser government approves the mining and export of uranium.

Malcolm Fraser

08 Dec 1977

19th Governor-General
Sir Zelman Cowen served as Governor-General until 29 July 1982.

SBS begins
The Special Broadcasting Service came into operation under the Broadcasting and Television Amendment Act. It was established to provide multilingual broadcasting and television services. Regular transmissions began on 24 October 1980.

Malcolm Fraser

20 Jan 1978

Irian Jaya
Foreign Minister Andrew Peacock’s recognition of Indonesian sovereignty over East Timor made Australia the sole country to accept Indonesia’s military takeover in 1976.

Malcolm Fraser

26 Jan 1978

Land rights in the Northern Territory
The proclamation of the Northern Territory Land Rights Act in 1976 enabled traditional owners to claim unalienated land. The Act provided for a Commission to hear claims and with power to grant a limited title. This was the first Australian law enabling claims to traditional ownership to be judged.

Malcolm Fraser

01 Jul 1978

Northern Territory self-government
The Northern Territory achieved limited self-government, with a fully elected Legislative Assembly. This followed 67 years of federal administration, after 50 years of government by South Australia.

Malcolm Fraser

05 Apr 1979

Protecting our environment
An area of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory proclaimed the Kakadu National Park. In October the first stage of the Great Barrier Reef marine park proclaimed.

Malcolm Fraser

07 Oct 1979

Immigration advisors
An Australian Refugee Advisory Council was established. Its role was to advise the Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs on the settlement of refugees. Large numbers of Indo-Chinese refugees had become a challenge for receiving countries like Australia.

Malcolm Fraser

19 Oct 1979

Federal Police
The Australian Federal Police force was formed. The AFP combined the Commonwealth Police, the Australian Capital Territory Police and the Federal Narcotics Bureau.

Malcolm Fraser

26 Jan 1980

Australian Institute of Sport
The Minister for Home Affairs announced the establishment of a national institute of sport. It began as a public company with 95 per cent funding from the government. In January 1987 the Institute became a statutory authority under the Department of Sport, Recreation and Tourism.

Malcolm Fraser

29 May 1980

Coastal Waters (State Powers) Act
The Commonwealth returned control of coastal waters to the States. The federal government had taken control of these waters in 1973.

Malcolm Fraser

06 Jun 1980

Saving the whale
Enactment of a Whale Protection Act, following strong lobbying for the end of whaling in Australian waters.

The desktop computer
The first personal computers went on sale. Thirty years earlier the first mainframe computer, UNIVAC, had come into use.

Malcolm Fraser

14 Apr 1981

Human rights
Human Rights Commission Act enacted, providing for a body to promote and protect human rights in line with all United Nations instruments ratified by Australia. Australia’s Racial Discrimination Act 1975 and later the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 are also covered by the Commission, renamed the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission in 1986.

Malcolm Fraser

30 Apr 1981

Razor Gang report
The final report of a committee set up to review government function recommended the abolition of a number of agencies and reduction of others.

Malcolm Fraser

09 Mar 1982

Open information
Enactment of Australia’s first Freedom of Information Act

Malcolm Fraser

29 Jun 1982

Falklands War
Australia lifted a ban on imports from Argentina after Britain defeated Argentina in the 3-month war in the Falklands Islands.

Malcolm Fraser

29 Jul 1982

20th Governor-General
Sir Ninian Stephen served as Governor-General until 15 February 1989.

Malcolm Fraser

01 Jan 1983

TCP/IP enables the birth of the Internet
Adoption of the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) standard enabled the development of a supranational Internet. The first network of computers, ARPANET, had emerged in the United States in 1969.

Malcolm Fraser

03 Feb 1983

Double dissolution
Malcolm Fraser announced a double dissolution of parliament. The same day Bob Hawke was elected leader of the Labor Party after Bill Hayden resigned.

23rd Prime Minister
A Labor government was sworn in and Bob Hawke became Prime Minister.

Robert Hawke

11 Apr 1983

Economic summit
In an early example of his consensus approach, Prime Minister Bob Hawke called a meeting of leaders of business, government and trades unions. The meeting discussed economic strategy, the approach to unemployment and inflation, and a prices and incomes accord.

Robert Hawke

26 Sep 1983

America’s Cup comes to Fremantle
The yacht Australia II won the America’s Cup. It was the first challenger to remove the 132-year old trophy from the United States.

Robert Hawke

09 Dec 1983

Floating the dollar
The Hawke government deregulated the Australian dollar. Instead of the Reserve Bank determining its value, the international money market set the exchange rate.

Robert Hawke

01 Feb 1984

Medicare
The Medicare health scheme began operating. It replaced the Medibank scheme with one financed by a 1 per cent levy on incomes.

Robert Hawke

29 Mar 1984

Indigenous promotion
Charles Perkins became the first Indigenous person to head a Commonwealth department. He was appointed Secretary of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs.

Robert Hawke

19 Apr 1984

Let us rejoice
‘Advance Australia Fair’ was proclaimed Australia’s national anthem. This followed a decade of ongoing debate, a national opinion poll in 1974, and a plebiscite in 1977. At the same time, green and gold were proclaimed Australia’s national colours.

Robert Hawke

24 Jul 1984

Nuclear tests revisited
The Royal Commission into British Nuclear Tests in Australia was established. It was a response to widespread concern about adequate disposal of radioactive substances, the effects of exposure to ionising radiation, and the impact on traditional owners’ use of their lands. The Commission reported on 5 December 1985.

Robert Hawke

01 Oct 1984

Handback of Uluru
Governor-General Sir Ninian Stephen formally handed Pitjantjatjara traditional owners the title deeds to the Uluru area. The arrangement required a lease-back to the National Parks and Wildlife Service and joint management by members of the local Mutijulu community and the service.

Referendum
Voters rejected two proposals at this referendum, one related to the terms of senators and the other to interchange of powers between the Commonwealth and states.

Robert Hawke

01 Jan 1985

Espionage uncovered
The 1954 records of the Royal Commission on Espionage were made public under the new Archives Act 1983. This established the ’30-year-rule’ for access to most Commonwealth records.

Robert Hawke

02 Mar 1986

Australia Acts
Australian law became independent of British parliaments and courts. Seven laws enacted by the States, British government and the final one by the Commonwealth government, severed a constitutional tie to Britain. The Australia Acts ended the inclusion into Australian law of British Acts of Parliament, and abolished remaining provisions for appeals from Australian courts to the Privy Council in London.

Robert Hawke

02 Apr 1987

No Australia Card
The Australia Card Bill was rejected by the Senate for the second time and Prime Minister Bob Hawke requested a double-dissolution of parliament. Although the national identity card was a prominent issue in campaigning for the election, it was eventually dropped by the Hawke government.

Perestroika
Prime Minister Bob Hawke arrived in Moscow on an official visit for discussions on mutual trade and foreign policy. The trip was made possible by post-Cold War changes developed under Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.

Robert Hawke

09 May 1988

New Parliament House
Queen Elizabeth II ceremonially opened Australia’s new Parliament House on Capitol Hill in Canberra, above the provisional Parliament House opened by her father and mother in 1927. In 1901 her grandparents had opened Australia's first Parliament in Melbourne.

Robert Hawke

01 Aug 1988

Industrial Relations Act
Enactment of this law provided for the implementation of the government’s industrial relations reforms. It repealed the Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1904 when it came into effect the following year.

Robert Hawke

03 Sep 1988

Referendum
None of the four proposals put to voters at this referendum was carried. The proposals related to, parliamentary terms, fair and democratic parliamentary elections throughout Australia, giving constitutional recognition to local government, and rights and freedoms.

21st Governor-General
William Hayden served as Governor-General until 16 February 1996.

Robert Hawke

11 Dec 1989

Timor Gap Treaty
Indonesian and Australian representatives signed the Treaty in a plane above the Timor Sea, between East Timor and northern Australia. The Treaty came into force on 9 February 1991. It established a zone of cooperation in an oil-rich undersea area where the continental shelf extending from Java meets the northern Australian continental shelf.

Robert Hawke

05 Mar 1990

ATSIC established
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission began work. It was the result of a merger between the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and the Aboriginal Development Commission.

Fall of the Berlin Wall
After six months of negotiation, East and West Germany were reunified after 45 years. The Berlin Wall, built in 1961 to prevent people leaving Soviet East Germany, was dismantled on 9 November 1989 after the glasnost reforms of Soviet President Gorbachev thawed relations with non-communist countries.

Robert Hawke

27 Feb 1991

End of the Gulf War
The Iraqi army was defeated after US ground attacks. These followed Operation Desert Storm, a massive air strike against military targets in Iraq. Australia sent three warships to support the US-led United Nations forces in response to the invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi troops in August 1990.

Robert Hawke

15 Apr 1991

Deaths in custody
The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody released its final report. The Commission investigated the deaths of 99 Aboriginal prisoners between 1980 and 1989. Its report comprised 11 volumes and more than 5000 pages, and included 339 recommendations.

Paul Keating

20 Dec 1991

24th Prime Minister
In an exchange of Labor Party leadership, Paul Keating became prime minister, succeeding Bob Hawke, who left parliament on 20 February 1992 after 12 years representing the seat of Wills.

Paul Keating

01 Jan 1992

World Wide Web
The first browser program went on sale and transformed the Internet paths to a global network. Developed by scientists in Geneva in 1989, this text-based browser enabled anyone with knowledge of the UNIX operating system to link to the Internet. The first image-based browser, Mosaic, went on sale in September 1993.

Paul Keating

03 Jun 1992

Mabo Case
Ten years after the case began, the High Court’s judgment was handed down in a case bought by people from the Torres Strait island of Mer. The decision inserted the legal doctrine of native title into Australian law. This led to the Native Title Act in 1993, which enabled Indigenous people throughout Australia to claim traditional rights to unalienated land.

Paul Keating

01 Sep 1992

Wattle Day
Australia’s first official Wattle Day. The date was proclaimed as an annual celebration of the golden wattle. This wattle, Acacia pycnantha benth, had been proclaimed the official national floral emblem in August 1988.

Paul Keating

14 Sep 1992

Somalian crisis
Australian personnel, members of a United Nations peacekeeping force, arrived in Somalia in East Africa in a crisis of civil war and famine.

The opal proclamation
Australia was provided with a national gemstone, when the opal was officially proclaimed to fit this role. The environmental conditions necessary for opal to form are more common in Australia than elsewhere. Australia produces 95 per cent of the world’s opals.

Paul Keating

09 Aug 1993

Phosphate payout
Australia agreed to pay Nauru 107 million dollars in compensation for damage caused to the island by phosphate mining. In June 1992 the International Court of Justice ruled on the claim, holding Australia alone liable.

Paul Keating

20 Nov 1993

Strengthening APEC
Regional heads of government met in Seattle in the United States to expand the Asia-Pacific Economic Forum, an initiative of Australia. Malaysia’s Prime Minister did not attend, and relations with Australia deteriorated. Relations recovered with the visit of the Prime Minister to Malaysia in January 1996.

Paul Keating

30 Mar 1994

Industrial Relations Court
An Act established the Industrial Relations Court of Australia to take over the functions of the Industrial Division of the Federal Court of Australia. This arrangement was altered when industrial relations were restructured in 1997.

Paul Keating

10 May 1994

End of apartheid
Nelson Mandela became President of the Republic of South Africa after the first post-apartheid elections. In July South Africa rejoined the British Commonwealth. Australia had played a strong role in the sanctions policy against the apartheid regime that outlawed the African National Congress and gaoled Mandela from 1963 to 1990.

Paul Keating

01 Jan 1995

World Trade Organization
Established in Geneva under the international Uruguay Round negotiations from 1986 to 1994, the WTO was set up to negotiate and implement the regulation of international trade agreements. In 2002 there were 144 member countries

Paul Keating

08 Nov 1995

Death of a Prime Minister
Israeli leader Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by an Israeli gunman. This threatened the fragile progress towards peace between Israel and Palestine achieved by the Washington agreement two years before.

Paul Keating

14 Dec 1995

Peace in Bosnia
After three years of war in the post-Yugoslav states, the presidents of Croatia and Serbia, and the Bosnian Muslim leader, signed a peace treaty ending hostilities.

Paul Keating

28 Dec 1995

Nuclear weapons testing
Australia joined countries protesting against France’s renewed nuclear weapons testing. The French exploded nuclear devices at Mururoa Atoll in the south Pacific one month after a United Nations vote for an immediate ban on nuclear testing.

Paul Keating

16 Feb 1996

22nd Governor-General
Sir William Deane served as Governor-General until 29 June 2001.

25th Prime Minister
The first Coalition government for 13 years was sworn in, with John Howard as Prime Minister.

John Howard

28 Apr 1996

Port Arthur massacre
A gunman killed 35 people at Port Arthur, Tasmania. Twelve days later, Prime Minister John Howard announced a scheme for uniform gun laws throughout Australia. A buy-back of privately owned guns was funded by a special levy on taxpayers.

John Howard

11 Dec 1996

Telstra on sale
The Bill enabling the share market sale of one half of Telstra passed both Houses of parliament. This was achieved after Senator Mal Colston left the Labor Party and, with Independent Brian Harradine, held the balance of power in the Senate.

John Howard

23 Dec 1996

Wik native title
The full High Court determined that pastoral leases did not extinguish native title. The Prime Minister proposed a ‘10-point plan’ in April 1997 in an attempt to allay pastoralists’ concerns about the implications of the judgment.

John Howard

01 Jan 1997

Restructuring industrial relations
Most of the provisions of the Workplace Relations Act 1996 came into effect. Under the Act, the Industrial Relations Act 1988 was substantially amended. Jurisdiction of the Industrial Relations Court of Australia, established in 1994, was transferred to the Federal Court of Australia from 25 May 1997.

John Howard

11 Apr 1997

One Nation
Pauline Hanson launched a new political party in Ipswich, Queensland promoting tighter immigration restrictions. Hanson had won the seat of Oxley in the 1996 federal election as an Independent, after she had failed to gain Liberal preselection.

John Howard

26 May 1997

Sorry business
In parliament the Prime Minister tabled the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission’s report on the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, Bringing Them Home.

John Howard

13 Feb 1998

Constitutional Convention
At the conclusion of ten days of deliberations, 116 appointed delegates and 36 elected delegates voted that a proposal for a republic with a president appointed by parliament be put to the people. At the referendum held on 6 November 1999, Australians rejected this model.

John Howard

30 Aug 1998

SEA-ME-WE-3
A new intercontinental communications optical fibre cable system able to transfer 20 gigabits of information per second was completed. It accelerated Internet access in Australia and partner countries including Indonesia, Japan, Hong Kong, the United States and United Kingdom. The cable runs ashore through the sand dunes of Floreat Beach in Western Australia.

Special envoy
Former prime minister Malcolm Fraser appointed special envoy of the Australian Government to seek release of CARE Australia workers Steve Pratt and Peter Wallace imprisoned in Yugoslavia.

John Howard

16 Jul 1999

New protection
Enactment of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act repeals the 1975 legislation.

John Howard

20 Sep 1999

East Timor crisis
An Australian contingent of 2500 troops arrived in Dili to lead a United Nations peacekeeping team in East Timor. This followed violent disruption after an overwhelming vote for independence from Indonesia on 30 August. The United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) took charge six days later to disarm pro-Indonesia militia and provide shelter, food, and medical aid to the East Timorese people.

John Howard

06 Nov 1999

Referendum
Australians rejected a proposal to establish the Commonwealth of Australia as a republic and the proposed insertion of an additional preamble to the Constitution.

John Howard

03 Dec 1999

Law of the sea
The Federal Court upheld the validity of native title in the sea and the seabed around Croker Island in the Northern Territory. The government had appealed a decision of the Native Title Tribunal set up under the Native Title Act 1996.

John Howard

01 Jul 2000

A new tax
A goods and services tax was introduced as part of the government’s tax reform program aimed at redressing the effects of declining revenue from income tax.

John Howard

25 Jul 2000

Korea
Diplomatic relations resumed between North Korea and Australia. An ambassador from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea presented his credentials in Canberra. Three weeks earlier an Australian ambassador had been received in Pyongyang.

John Howard

15 Sep 2000

Sydney Olympic Games
The Governor-General opened the second Olympic Games held in Australia. Sydney’s successful bid for the ‘Green Games’ involved transforming the polluted wasteland of Homebush Bay into a world standard Olympic Park. Among the records broken at the Games was the number of passengers carried on one day by Sydney’s ferries, exceeding the previous record set on 1 January 1901.

John Howard

01 Jan 2001

Centenary of Federation
The celebration of Australia’s 100th birthday began in Sydney’s Centennial Park, the site of the inauguration ceremonies on 1 January 1901. On 9 May the opening of the first parliament was commemorated at a special sitting of parliament in Melbourne’s Exhibition Building.

John Howard

29 Jun 2001

23rd Governor-General
Anglican Archbishop Dr Peter Hollingworth became Australia’s Governor-General, the first minister of religion appointed to the vice-regal post.

John Howard

07 Aug 2001

Census question 50
The national census measuring Australia’s population 100 years after Federation took place. Respondents were asked to decide whether their names and addresses would be retained for release in 99 years. Some 52 per cent agreed, the rest maintaining Australia's tradition of an anonymous census.

John Howard

29 Aug 2001

Tampa crisis
A Norwegian ship rescued refugees fleeing repressive regimes in Afghanistan and the Middle East from their sinking boat in the Indian Ocean. It then crossed into Australian waters despite the refusal of entry by the Australian government. The refugees were taken to security holding camps in the Pacific while their eligibility for political asylum was assessed.

John Howard

11 Sep 2001

A new war
Afghanistan-based Al-Qaeda terrorists flew hijacked United States airliners into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in lower Manhattan, and into the Pentagon, the US Defence Department headquarters in Washington. A fourth airliner crashed before nearing its apparent target, the White House. The death toll was 3000. Prime Minister John Howard, then in Washington, agreed to support US President George W Bush in the world’s first ‘war on terrorism’.

Zimbabwe
The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting at Coolum (Queensland) established a three-person committee to work with the Commonwealth Secretary-General to determine the appropriate Commonwealth responses to Zimbabwe’s democratic shortcomings. John Howard was one of the three members of the committee, along with the Presidents of Nigeria and South Africa. On 19 March the committee decided to suspend Zimbabwe from the Councils of the Commonwealth.

John Howard

20 May 2002

Independent East Timor
The proclamation of East Timor’s autonomy followed the vote to end Indonesian rule in 1999. The first elections were held on 1 August 2001 and an 88-member Constituent Assembly was elected on 30 August 2001. In presidential elections on 14 April 2002, independence leader Xanana Gusmao became East Timor’s first president.

John Howard

12 Oct 2002

Bali bombing
A bomb at a nightclub in Kuta (Bali, Indonesia) killed 202 people, nearly half of them Australian.

John Howard

18 Mar 2003

Commitment of Australian forces to Iraq
The government agreed to a request by the President of the United States that Australian forces join the coalition acting to enforce Iraq’s compliance with resolutions of the United Nations Security Council relating to the possession of weapons of mass destruction. Approximately 2000 Australian Defence Force personnel were now deployed in the Middle East.

John Howard

28 May 2003

Resignation of the Governor-General
The Queen accepted the resignation of Dr Peter Hollingworth as Governor-General. The Governor of Tasmania, Sir Guy Greene, served as Administrator of the Commonwealth until the appointment of a new Governor-General.

John Howard

22 Jun 2003

24th Governor-General
Major General Michael Jeffery was appointed Governor-General. He had served as Governor of Western Australia from 1993 to 2000.

John Howard

25 Jun 2004

National Water Initiative
The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreed to a National Water Initiative and the establishment of a seven-member National Water Commission.

John Howard

13 Aug 2004

Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement
Legislation implementing the AUSFTA was passed by the parliament, concluding a lengthy process of negotiation that had taken place in 2003 and early 2004. The agreement came into operation on 1 January 2005.

Tsunami
On Boxing Day a tsunami brought major devastation and loss of life to eleven countries, including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Thailand. An Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Reconstruction and Development was formed to assist Indonesia’s recovery.

John Howard

01 Jul 2005

Senate majority
The Senators elected at the 41st federal election took their seats, giving the Liberal-National coalition a majority in both chambers.

John Howard

15 Sep 2005

Telstra sale
The Senate passed the Telstra (Transition to Full Private Ownership) Bill 2005. With the Governor-General’s assent on 23 September, the Telstra Corporation, Australia’s telecommunications agency, could be fully organised. The first sale had been in 1997, under the Telstra (Dilution of Public Ownership) Act 1996 which enabled the sale of up to one-third of the agency, with $1 billion of the revenue to be allocated to environmental programs.

John Howard

01 Oct 2005

Indonesian terror
More than 20 people are killed and over 120 injured when three suicide bombers set off a blast in Bali, the most serious incident since the 2002 bombing.

John Howard

27 Mar 2006

WorkChoices
The final element in the restructuring of industrial relations initiated by the Workplace Relations and Other Legislation Amendment Act 1997 was introduced – the WorkChoices policy. This restructuring had also replaced the former Commonwealth Employment Service with a competitive market of private employment service businesses.

John Howard

08 Sep 2007

APEC in Australia
Opening of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum in Sydney, with a special Protective Security Coordination Centre coordinating tight security measures through its APEC 2007 Security Branch. The breach of a security cordon by TV satirists The Chasers led to criminal charges that were later dismissed, and international enjoyment of their unexpectedly successful comedy stunt.

John Howard

24 Nov 2007

42nd federal election – House of Representatives and 40 Senate seats
Coalition under Prime Minister John Howard lost government.

Kevin Rudd

03 Dec 2007

26th Prime Minister
Ministers of the new Labor government led by Kevin Rudd, with Julia Gillard as Australia’s first female deputy Prime Minister, sworn in by the Governor-General.

Kevin Rudd

03 Dec 2007

Signing Kyoto
Australia signed the Kyoto Protocol, the international agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions passed by the United Nations in 1997.

Kevin Rudd

13 Feb 2008

Welcome at last
The opening of Australia’s 42nd parliament was a milestone in Australian political history – the first to be preceded by a welcome to country from local Aboriginal people.

Kevin Rudd

14 Feb 2008

A nation moved
Crowds around Australia watched broadcasts from the House of Representatives when Prime Minister Kevin Rudd led a parliamentary apology for the effect of past government policies on Indigenous people.

Kevin Rudd

19 Apr 2008

2020 vision
1000 participants gathered at Parliament House for a two-day Australia 2020 Summit organised by the government to generate ideas and strategies.

Kevin Rudd

08 Aug 2008

Olympiad
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Thérèse Rein attended the opening of the 29th Olympic Games in Beijing. They had been in China earlier that year during an official world tour.

Kevin Rudd

05 Sep 2008

25th Governor-General
Formerly the Governor of Queensland from 2003 to 2008, Ms Quentin Bryce was sworn in as Governor-General, the first female to hold this office.

Kevin Rudd

21 Jan 2009

US President Obama
Barack Obama, the first African-American president of the United States, is inaugurated.

GFC, the G7 and the G20
Australia's more favourable performance during the global financial crisis (GFC), when all the G7 economies contracted, enabled the formation of a wider international body, the G20.

Kevin Rudd

01 Dec 2009

Abbott new leader
Tony Abbott became Leader of the Liberal Party and Leader of the Opposition after a Party room vote against Malcolm Turnbull.

Kevin Rudd

01 Jan 2010

Fair Work program
The Howard government's controversial Work Choices is replaced with the new Fair Work program, a substantial change in industrial relations processes.

Julia Gillard

24 Jun 2010

27th Prime Minister
In a leadership challenge, Julia Gillard became Australia's 27th Prime Minister and the first woman to hold the office. She was elected unopposed by the Parliamentary Labor Party.

Julia Gillard

21 Aug 2010

43rd federal election
After the closest election result since 1961 produces a hung Parliament, intense negotiations enable Labor to form a minority government with the support of four cross-bench Members.

Julia Gillard

14 Oct 2010

Australian saint
Pope Benedict conducts the ceremony of canonisation of Australia's first saint, Mary MacKillop.

Julia Gillard

15 Dec 2010

Refugee tragedy
Further controversy over Australia's refugee policies follows the wreck, off Christmas Island, of a boat laden with refugee families.

Julia Gillard

07 Jan 2011

Extreme weather in Australia
Cyclones Yasi and Carlos, a flash flood through the centre of Toowoomba, Qld, and devastating floods in Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia contributed to a 1.2% economic slump for the quarter, the biggest fall in 20 years.

Julia Gillard

22 Feb 2011

Earthquake in New Zealand
An earthquake kills 181 people and causes substantial damage to Christchurch, New Zealand's second largest city. The country's second major earthquake in 6 months is followed by further severe aftershocks 4 months later.

Julia Gillard

11 Mar 2011

Worst ever earthquake in Japan
Japan's worst ever earthquake with a magnitude of 8.9 struck 382 kilometres northeast of Tokyo, with major aftershocks and a tsunami. Extensive damage occurred, including meltdown of reactors at TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.

Kevin Rudd

26 Jun 2013

Prime Minister for the second time
In a leadership challenge, Kevin Rudd was elected Leader of the Parliamentary Labor Party and became Prime Minister for the second time.

Tony Abbott

18 Sep 2013

28th Prime Minister
The new Coalition government was sworn in, with Tony Abbott as Prime Minister.

Malcolm Turnbull

15 Sep 2015

29th Prime MinisterOn 14 September 2015, Abbott was defeated in a leadership ballot by Malcolm Turnbull, who was sworn in as Prime Minister the following day.